How to Enable the Background App Mode on Xiaomi: The Complete Guide

Modern smartphone users Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco often face a situation where important notifications from messengers arrive late and music players go silent immediately after locking the screen, due to MIUI’s aggressive battery saving policy, which forcibly closes processes that work in the background. Many device owners mistakenly believe that the phone is faulty, although the problem lies in the software limitations of the system.

The HyperOS operating shell and earlier versions of MIUI are designed to maximize battery life, but this approach often comes at the expense of functionality: the navigator stops building a route, the fitness tracker loses heart rate data, and files are not uploaded to the cloud. To fix this, you need to manually configure permissions for each critical application, disabling automatic memory management.

In this article, we will discuss all available methods of activating background work, you will learn how to configure specific programs through the system menu, how to work with advanced battery settings and what hidden features are available to developers. The right configuration will allow your smartphone to work exactly as you want it to, without unexpected process stops.

Why Xiaomi is closing apps in the background

The main reason for the forced shutdown is the built-in optimization mechanism. The system analyzes resource consumption and, if the application is not on the screen for a certain time, it marks it as inactive and unloads it from RAM. This is standard behavior for Android, but in shells from Xiaomi it is implemented more rigidly than in stock Android.

There is also the concept of “sleep mode” for rarely used programs: If you haven’t opened a particular application in a long time, the system automatically limits its background activity, even if you previously configured permissions. Energy saving algorithms can reset user settings after updating the firmware or restarting the device, which requires re-checking the configuration.

⚠️ Warning: Disabling all restrictions completely can lead to accelerated battery discharge.It is recommended to configure the background mode only for those applications that really need to work constantly (navigators, smart home, messengers for work).

Understanding the logic of the system helps to avoid unnecessary actions, for example, there is no point in keeping heavy games or stores in the background if you do not expect them to be notified right now, and the competent approach is to selectively adjust, not to globally disable all security mechanisms.

Basic settings through the application menu

The easiest and most effective way to allow a program to run in the background is to change its individual autorun and battery settings, which is 90 percent of the time, and doesn't require deep system intervention, you don't have to be an expert, you just need to do a few things consistently in the settings menu.

To start, find the app icon on your desktop, click on it and hold your finger until the context menu appears. Select the app's About (or gear/information icon) and the window that opens will show you two main options: "Outstart" and "Activity Control."

• 🔘 Turn on the Auto Start switch to start the program with the system.
• 🔋 Go to Battery Consumption and select the option “No restrictions».
• 🔒 Make sure that the necessary access to memory and network is activated in the “Permissions” section.
• 📲 It is also important for messengers to include a notification in the status bar so that the system considers the application active.

After making the changes, the system may show a warning that this will increase power consumption. Confirm the action by clicking "OK." Now the application is added to the whitelist and will not be closed by the background MIUI processor. However, for some services this may not be enough and will require a deeper setup.

Advanced battery settings and energy saving

If standard methods didn't work, you should look at global power saving settings, where you can turn off sleep mode for all applications at once or set up work profiles, which is especially important for users who use their phone in modem mode or leave overnight downloads on.

Go to Settings → Battery → Top Right gear → Formatting (the path may vary depending on the version of MIUI). In newer versions of HyperOS, the item you are looking for is often hidden in the Settings menu → Apps → Permissions → Auto Run. Here you will see a list of all installed programs.

If activated, the system will automatically limit the background activity of applications that you have not used for more than 7 days, disabling this feature ensures that even rarely used programs remain in memory and are ready for instant launch.

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For mission-critical applications (such as a burglar alarm or a child’s tracker), further pin them to memory: open the app, swipe up to view open windows, and press the lock.

Working with memory and process cleaning

A common reason for stopping background tasks is the built-in memory cleaner. Users are used to regularly "clean" the phone by pressing the broom icon, unaware that it is killing the desired processes.

Go to the Safety app (green zipper icon). Click on the gear icon in the top right corner and find Advanced Settings. You can set up an ignorant list for the cleaner here. It's also helpful to turn off automatic memory cleaner if it's too aggressive.

There is another nuance associated with memory expansion: if your device is enabled virtual memory (using part of the drive as RAM), this can slow down background processes due to lower read/write speeds compared to physical RAM. In some cases, disabling memory expansion stabilizes the work of heavy applications in the background.

⚠️ Warning: Do not install third-party accelerators or cleaners from the Play Market. MIUI and may cause even more frequent reboots of applications.

Memory management is a balance between free space and performance. Try not to fill the RAM completely. If you have a model with 4 GB of RAM or less, keep no more than 3-4 heavy applications in the background at a time.

Settings for developers and special features

For advanced users, there is a Developer Menu that hides subtle process control settings. To activate this section, you need to quickly click 7 times on the build number in the About Phone menu, and once the appropriate tab appears, you can find options in the settings that affect the background work.

In the section Additional → For developers, find the item "Background Process Limit" and make sure it has a value "Standard Limit" or "No Limits." If you choose a process limit, the system will force you to close the extra ones, even if you set exceptions.

adb shell pm grant com.example.app android.permission.REQUEST_IGNORE_BATTERY_OPTIMIZATIONS

Also worth mentioning is the command via ADB to completely ignore battery optimization if the interface doesn't work.This command requires a computer connection and a driver installed, but it gives the most reliable result. Type a line into the console, replacing com.example.app with a real application package.

Solving problems with specific types of applications

Different categories of software require a personalized approach. For example, for navigators, it is critical that the screen can go out, but the GPS continues to work. For a smart home, you need a constant network connection. Configuration errors lead to Yandex.Navigator being silent when turning, and the smart light bulb does not respond to command.

For navigators, be sure to enable access to the Always geo-position, not just When using. In the battery settings, select No Limits mode. Some users also advise turning on the display of the Navigator widget on the desktop, which signals the system to the importance of the process.

• 🎵 Music: Allow background work and access to media files. Turn off traffic savings for this app.
• 🏠 Smart home: Requires stable Wi-Fi. Add the app to auto-start and turn off Wi-Fi sleep mode for it in network settings.
• 📧 Email: Turn on sync and push notifications, see if the data limit is worth it in the background.

If the problem is with video calls (Zoom, Skype), make sure the app is allowed to use the microphone and camera in the background (although this is a rare feature, it may be required for some enterprise services).

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There is no one-size-fits-all solution for all applications, and the setup should be tailored to each service that causes notification or background problems.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)